Sir Lady Java, “the Prettiest Man on Earth,” is a queer icon famous for her “female impersonator” performances at Redd Foxx’s Los Angeles nightclub in the 1960s. There, Java’s show involved the performance of femininity. She was a fixture in the Black arts scene in LA, even appearing alongside Lena Horne for Gertrude Gipson’s birthday in 1978. Java was most known for her willingness to play with gender expression through costume, movement, and performance.
Sir Lady Java was frequently targeted by the LAPD as a popular, queer, Black performer who challenged the gender binary. In the late 60s, the LAPD succeeded in shutting down her show, utilizing “Rule No. 9” to justify their involvement. At the time, Rule No. 9 referred to a Los Angeles code that criminalized cross-dressing, requiring people to wear three items of clothing belonging to their assigned gender. While most performers would abide by the ordinance through subtle concessions in their costumes, Sir Lady Java rarely followed the rules, making her an easy target.
After her show was canceled, Java partnered with the ACLU to get Rule No. 9 repealed. As a political advocate, Java worked to legally expand opportunities for gender expression, performance, and fluidity. As an “impersonator,” Java’s practice of donning “women’s” clothing to become a woman on stage poked fun at the state’s own logic; Rule No. 9 implies that gender manifests in the clothes that you wear, not unlike the way in which Java used clothes to explicitly perform gender in her shows.
Sir Lady Java is still alive today. She was interviewed for a chapter in Trap Door called “The Labor of Werqing It: the Performance and Protest Strategies of Sir Lady Java” by Treva Ellison.
